By David Levin-Kruss, Yesod Europe Jewish Learning Director
How are the following similar?
- Going into the wilds by oneself to catch and kill an animal.
- Leaving university for one’s first job.
- Having a bar/bat mitzvah.
All are times where one leaves one way of being and joins another. In example #1, the usually young man proves he is worthy to be an elder in the tribe. In example #2, a person stops being a student and takes on a new identity by being associated with a particular organization or company. And in #3, the child becomes an adult member of the Jewish community.
This insight is informed by the theories of Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957), who said that every rite of passage has three stages: separation, liminality, and re-integration. In the first stage one withdraws to study and prepare. In the final stage one re-enters society having completed the ritual or ordeal. And stage two is the limbo period between states, during which people have left one place but are not yet in the next.
But does bar/bat mitzva really fit into this scheme?
At first look, yes. For example, often the year before a bar/bat mitzva a child may fast on Yom Kippur for the first time. The children will ask each other: “How long did you fast? What did you break your fast on?” – sounds a lot like an ordeal or test one has to pass to go to the next stage.
In classic practice boys, and nowadays in some communities, girls too, are expected to read from the Torah. Admittedly, this is different from an initiation in China where shamans walk over hot plowshares, but both do require hard work and long preparation. Because there are no vowel aids to pronunciation, it is hard to learn to read Torah on one’s own and an elder, more experienced person needs to teach you – echoing the mentoring one has in many rites of passage.
One then stands before relatives and others to demonstrate skill, ability, and knowledge – an initiatory act with the elders. The young person is separating from their child-like state and entering the world of young adults. This idea is made explicit when the father says a blessing thanking God for removing the burden of being responsible for the boy (I have not seen this part of the service made egalitarian, but I have seen an alternate blessing said by both parents).
But there are differences too from classic rites of passage. Intellect rather than strength is used as a sign of being a grownup. At no point is the child separated and the family is very much part of the event. And the ceremony is not a requirement. A girl automatically becomes bat mitzva at age 12 and is obligated to perform the commandments. The boy at 13. The ritual just confirms something that happened unlike an initiation where if one fails one is not admitted to the group.
The differences are emblematic of three important Jewish values: learning, family and community, and obligation. Some would say they are the three central pillars of Jewish life.
Thus bar/bat mitzvah could better be called a milestone, an event marking a significant change or stage in development rather than an ordeal, initiation, or rite of passage. Mazal tov!
Bibliography
Bar/bat Mitzvah as a Rite of Passage by Froma Fallik
Fathers and Sons: Rethinking the Bar Mitzvah as an American Rite of Passage by Simon J. Bronner